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Which Videocard Now?

Okay Gaming Guru's - I'm in need of some shopping help. I just saw a game that I really want to get (Need For Speed) and I just ordered a Force Feedback Wheel for it and was wondering what kind of videocard I should get. I don't want to spend a lot of money since I will probably only play this game once and it will be another two or three years until I find something else to my liking.

The cards I've seen out there that are within my budget are:

GeForce 6600GT
GeForce FX5900
Radeon 9800 Pro

Now, I am completely out of the loop here. I don't even understand why there are so many PCI Videocards out there. Is AGP dying?

Any help would be appreciated. My other computer parts are as follows:

From those listed 6600GT is the best choice.
Its faster then R9800PRO, has better IQ and better drivers. It should also play the upcoming games better.

As for PCI express, its rapidly becoming the standard for video cards. It doesnt offer any particular speed advantage as of yet, however it should in the future when faster cards come to the market.
When buying new system, it makes sense to get PCIe system, for the sake of upgradeability.

Here are some benchmarks for NFS Underground 2 at HardOCP
They were using A64 3500+, but I think you should be able to get at least 20FPS minmum, which is enaugh for the driving game.

Thanks for the advice but now I think I'm going to have to do totally new upgrade. I've decided to change my processor and motherboard and all of the LGA775 boards don't have an AGP Slot. It's okay to just get a PCI-Express videocard right? 6600GT as well but in its PCI-Express form.

I don't know why any of these new motherboards have an AGP Slot left. I guess they're really moving away from it.

Hope to get a little more feedback on the matter.

Cheers and thanks for the help.

? Quantum Physics ? Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

I think they still keep an AGP slot on the newer boards, for people like me, who have paid £140 for a AGP Radeon 9800 Pro, that is by all standards still a good video card...and that want to upgrade to Athlon 64 without having to buy a new GPU.

However, when I upgrade, it will be because my 9800Pro can't play anything decently anymore, so I'll dump it on eBay and go PCI Express

You know when you get online and you know you want to buy a single thing for your computer just to make that little tiny difference but you end up getting a whole new rig just because you see the pretty pictures of all the new stuff... Well, I just dug myself another credit card hole and bought the following:

i ran Underground 2 on my 9600XT 128MB and it was fine, i could run it at 1024X768 with everything up high apart from FSAA. it would give a little stutter with a burnout with tyre smoke but thats about it.

Originally posted by Toolbox The X850XT was just too much for someone like me that doesn't really play games all that often.

but was the X800XL? they are cheaper than a pro and faster in most games. my X800PRO is more than 50% faster than my 6600GT was. but the 6600GT is still an amazing card and will do exactly what you want it to.

I bought the agp not extreme 128mb version of that card. Does 550, 1100 memory speeds. The games bundle is a good deal, Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia Warrior Within, around here POP Warrior sells for $40. Paid $179.

Originally posted by Toolbox It shouldn't be a problem... when I do upgrades, I usually change motherboard, processor and RAM all at the same time so I'll uprade to a better chipset when I decide to get another processor.

Thanks for the tip though.

I guess if you got the cash. I usually upgrade my weakest part at the time. So what do you do with your old mobo, CPU, and ram then?